“Us guitar players in the West, we all have the same base vocabulary, the same handful of stereotypical licks. But Mdou’s music, it’s almost free of that stuff”: Mdou Moctar finds a new fan in Metallica’s Kirk Hammett

Mdou Moctar playing his left-handed Fender Strat at Coachella 2024.

Mdou Moctar's latest album, Funeral for Justice, features psychedelic guitar work that draws as much inspiration from Eddie Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix as traditional Tuareg wedding dances.

Now, Moctar's unique guitar-playing style and music sensibilities have been praised by Metallica's Kirk Hammett.